If you’re looking for an experience that feels like a journey into another time, one before smartphones, before social-media feeds, before every moment was captured and shared, then heading to the Wales Millennium Centre for IN PURSUIT OF REPETITIVE BEATS is well worth it. From now until 23rd November the immersive VR installation invites you to step into 1989, follow the clandestine trail of the UK’s acid-house rave culture and, for a while at least, unplug from our hyper-connected world.
The setup
As you arrive, you’re ushered into a space where technology is visible, but it quickly fades into the background as the narrative begins. You’re given a headset, headphones, hand-controllers and even a haptic vest so you can feel the beat resonating. The story places you in a moment where you’re trying to track down an illegal warehouse party in and around Coventry in 1989, retracing the steps of promoters, ravers, police officers and pirate-radio voices.
What struck me was how this experience manages to do something rare: it uses very modern tools (VR, haptic vests, soundscapes) to evoke a past era with authenticity and texture. It’s not simply a film or documentary; it’s an environment you enter. I found myself immersed in low lighting, moving through a play-space mapped to the VR world, hearing the bass thump and seeing visuals that recall early-warehouse flyers or neon-soaked fields.
A trip back in time
The feeling of being ‘offline’ is central here. In that era, you didn’t receive an Instagram story telling you where to go; you hunted for the party location in person, you phoned a hotline from a phone-box, you shared flyers. “When you liked a track you’d have to sing or describe the track… hope the guy behind the counter would know it!” says one of the archivists. You’ll walk through that world. For a moment you’re not snapping selfies or checking notifications, you’re simply there, in the moment, with your group, with the sound, with your senses.
That is one of the most compelling aspects: the contrast between the hyper-connected present and the analog search for euphoria in that past. The experience evokes a time when community meant dancing side by side, eyes closed, feeling the beat, not standing apart with earphones and screens. The societal undercurrent is there too: unemployment, class divides, cultural resistance, all set to a soundtrack of defiance and unity.
We spoke to the writer, director and creator DARREN EMERSON who told us this ‘living documentary‘ is based on his own experience of clubbing back in the day (mid-90s).
What it feels like
Physically, it’s about 40–50 minutes from briefing to completion. You’ll be guided into the VR setting, move around in a limited space (so you don’t bump into the real world), and engage with virtual scenes, climbing into a car convoy, calling a hotline, walking into a rave, feeling the euphoria of the dance floor. At times you forget the headset on your head; you’re wrapped inside the story. I found that by the time you emerged, you were slightly disoriented, in a good way, like stepping out of a dream.
The sound is rich, the visuals vivid, and the multi-sensory touches (vibrations, vibrations timed to beat drops) really heighten the immersion. For someone who either lived a late-80s youth or simply wants to experience what it might’ve been like, it works beautifully. Even for newer generations who don’t have personal memories of that time the appeal is strong: as the creator points out, people feel nostalgia for something they never experienced.
Why it matters
The rave culture of the late 1980s and early 1990s was more than just dancing; it was a movement of togetherness, of escape, of unity across background and class. This installation doesn’t just glamorise it, it shows the risks, the secrecy, the countercultural energy. It draws clear lines between the era before mass-digital life and our present. In a time when we’re always reachable, always scrolling, always connected, there’s something liberating about entering a space where none of that operates. That alone makes it worth the trip.
A few practical notes
- The experience is aimed at ages 14+ because of themes (drug references, illegal activity) and VR equipment.
- It’s accessible: there are seated versions for wheelchair users, subtitles and haptics for d/Deaf and hard of hearing.
- It’s in a dedicated space inside the Wales Millennium Centre, arrive at least 10 minutes early.
- You might feel slightly unsteady after emerging; the beat is strong and immersive, so plan accordingly.
Final verdict
If you’re in Cardiff (or able to get there) and are curious about what it felt like to be young and free in a pre-social-media world, IN PURSUIT OF REPETITIVE BEATS is a must-see. It’s fun, thought-provoking, and refreshingly analog in spirit despite the high-tech implementation. And while you’re immersed, you’ll realise that the only screen you’re looking at is the one inside yourself, the one reacting to bass, light and rhythm.
Go with friends, because sharing the headset-on, headset-off moment makes it richer. In short: a lively, immersive, deeply felt ride back to a time when finding the party felt like discovering something hidden.
For more details, and to book yourself in go HERE.
